The present disclosure relates to an optical scanning device for scanning a laser beam, an image forming apparatus including the optical scanning device, and an aperture fixing method for use in the optical scanning device.
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes an optical scanning device that forms an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor by scanning a laser beam over the surface of the photoconductor. The optical scanning device includes a light source and a polygon mirror, wherein the light source emits a laser beam, and the polygon mirror scans the laser beam emitted from the light source. In addition, in the optical scanning device, an aperture is provided between the light source and the polygon mirror, wherein the aperture has an opening portion that restricts the beam path width of the laser beam.
Meanwhile, some optical scanning devices may include an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the fixed state of the aperture. More specifically, there is known an adjustment mechanism that can rotate the aperture around the optical axis of the laser beam as the rotation axis, based on the screw-depth of a screw that is screwed into a screw hole provided in a fixing tool that pivotably supports the aperture. In addition, there is known an adjustment mechanism that can move the aperture in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the laser beam, based on the screw-depth of a screw that is screwed into a screw hole provided in a fixing tool that swayably supports the aperture.